I sent an email recently to Brenneke USA to inquire if they still offer component slugs for reloading like they did years back and was told that the LIABILITY LAWYERS wouldn't let them. Progress my A**.

__________________
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The following came from a smith who made a O/U rifle for me last year. It came about because we are discussing him making a 20 ga double rifle and I wanted to know about the loads he uses.

"The loads that I have used for these 20 gauge "bore rifles" is a cast lead Lyman slug made in a hollow based hourglass shape. The beauty of them is that they are loaded using standard AA hulls and AA shot cups, then star crimped, just like ordinary shot loads. They weigh in at around 350 grains, can be safely pushed at 1500 to 1600 FPS, and still have fairly low operating pressures. The only other things I do is to mark them on the side as "Slug" with indelable marker and I color the primers red with a "Sharpy" felt amrker so that I can instantly tell that they are loaded with slugs. I fully rifled barrels, these are very accurate and hit like a freight train. The mold can be bought from Lyman but the slugs need to hand casted. If you guys don't want to mess with casting them, I can supply them to you for a moderate price. The best part is that no special equiptment is needed and anyone can do them up correctly."

While the load he suggests sounds good what I was really after was a duplication of something like the hornady............

Even though what he suggests sounds easy and sounds like it would have plenty of punch. Still the lighter faster bullet out of the Hornady, 260 grain and close to 1900 fps, would shoot a lot flatter and hold it's punch longer.

I do have a thought though. What he is doing is simply loading a slug in a standard wad and stuffing it in a crimped shell with the wad acting as the sabot and picking up the rotation from the rifling.

So what's to stop one from expereminting with different slugs? Certianly it would be necessary to watch the weight of the slug so as to keep pressures in line, but the concept seems simple enough.

Maybe .58 cal hollow base Minnies?

You'd have to be sure that the combination of the wad and the bullet did not exceed bore diameter but beyond that the only question would be how well it would stabalize.

If he casts the slugs and sells them, he is manufacturing ammunition according to the GCA and needs to be licensed. If he is selling alloy, that is fine.

As far as experimenting with slugs, uncharted territory in shotguns is not good. My understanding with shotgun data is that it is a recipe, not a suggestion like with cartridge loading. That specific data has been brewed with that specific component list to produce that specific result. Using a slug that has a different weight, ballistic coefficient, bearing surface, drag coefficient without knowing how that will effect pressures, is a serious undertaking.

Yes, what you described with the slug seated in a standard wad being spun by rifling is exactly what is going on. These slugs will be "hidden" by the crimp, so be sure to mark the hulls with something to indicate they are in fact slugs and not shot. I got hulls mixed up on a pheasant hunt and blasted one at 10y with a 3" slug load out of my 20ga. BOOM! Kicked way more than the normal #4 standard field loads. Perfect hole in the bird dead center. You could shove an entire 20ga shell through the hole with little resistence. Whoops!

Generally, no records are required for ammunition transactions. However, information about the disposition of armor piercing ammunition is required to be entered into a record by importers, manufacturers, and collectors.

A license is not required for dealers in ammunition only.

[18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17) and 922(b)(5), 27 CFR 478.11 and 478.125]

Quote:

(F11) Is a license required to engage in the business of selling small arms ammunition? [Back]

No. A license is not required for a dealer in ammunition only, but a manufacturer or an importer of ammunition must be licensed.

[18 U.S.C. 922 (a)(1)(B)]

Quote:

(H4) Is a person who reloads ammunition required to be licensed as a manufacturer? [Back]

Yes, if the person engages in the business of selling or distributing reloads for the purpose of livelihood and profit. No, if the person reloads only for personal use.

[18 U.S.C. 922(a) (i) and 923(a), 27 CFR 478.41]

Note that the manufacture of "ammunition" is defined as all four components, PLUS actual completed rounds. This means Hodgdon, Sierra, Winchester, and even Starline Brass have 06 FFL Ammunition Manufacturer licenses.

Also note the often quoted ATF bulletin regarding the definition of "livelihood and profit" applies only to the manufacture of firearms, not ammunition. There is no definition in any statutes, code, or case law regarding the manufacture and selling/distributing of ammunition. This is akin to being the test case for post office carry.

I am a properly licensed type 06 FFL Ammunition Manufacturer. It took a check payable to the ATF and three months of waiting.

IIRC I have seen write-ups concerning using the Lyman slug in a rifled barrel - it was very favorable. would pack a wallop for sure. since a smoothbore is a good survival-type weapon I'm interested in how they do in a smooth barrel and/or a rifled choke tube. seems to me to be a good idea, a dozen slugs in a survival pack along with say 50-100 shot shells.

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